On December 13, 72 players started in the 21th PDC World Championship. On January 1st 2014 two players remained: Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright. Mighty Mike grabbed the World title and became the second Dutchman to take it. Raymond van Barneveld preceded him in 2007.
Besides Michael van Gerwen there were five Dutch participants in the 2014 World Championship. Gino Vos lost in the preliminary round to Hong Kong’s Royden Lam. Mareno Michels had to bow out in the first round against Canadian veteran John Part. For former Lakeside winner Jelle Klaassen the tournament was also over after one round. Jamie Caven proved too strong for Jelle.
Vincent van der Voort played a poor first round match but his opponent, Matt Clark, couldn’t take advantage so Van der Voort progressed into round two. Fast Vinny played a very good match against Adrian Lewis in that round but Jackpot played his best game of the World Championship, beating the Dutchman 4-1. Raymond van Barneveld began his tournament strong and beat Jamie Lewis and Jamie Caven. In the third round he lost form and the match surprisingly to Welshman Mark Webster.
Michael van Gerwen showed during the tournament that he is the best darts player in the world right now. In his match against Gary Anderson he came back form 1-3. He was lucky that the Scot missed some opportunities but Van Gerwen took advantage and eventually won 4-3. After that match the man from Vlijmen never got pushed again in the tournament beating Mark Webster, Adrian Lewis and Peter Wright.
At every World Championship there are surprises. This year was no different. The biggest shock was obviously the loss of Phil Taylor in the second round against Michael Smith. The Power had been almost unbeatable all year but played far below his normal level in that match. Smith took advantage and saw off Taylor with a 128 check out.
South African Devon Petersen was a fresh tropical appearance. Walking on to the sounds of Waka Waka with a great dance, combined with very good darts, he defeated Steve Beaton and Justin Pipe. He would loose against James Wade in the third round. The early exits of Dave Chisnall and Andy Hamilton in the tournament were also surprising.
Already on the first Saturday two nine darters were thrown in the space of one hour. First it was Englishman Terry Jenkins that hit him. Within 60 minutes it was Australian Kyle Anderson who copied the Englishman. Remarkably both men lost their match.